Millennial Money: Credit Unions Add Flex To Your Finances

An underused money tool that could help a new generation of adults on their path to prosperity isn’t a smartphone app, a virtual currency or a digital payment system.

It’s an old-timey credit union.

Credit unions, if you’re unfamiliar, are like nonprofit banks. They may not satisfy all your money-management needs, but you’re missing out if you’re ignoring credit unions, which have great interest rates on auto loans, consumerfriendly checking and savings accounts, and low ongoing credit card rates.

One example: Fully financing a $30,000 new car over five years would cost about $1,250 less in interest with a credit union auto loan compared with a bank auto loan, based on national average rates.

Competitors — megabanks, small community banks and online banks — have their strengths and weaknesses. But this isn’t a binary choice: You can use a credit union for the things it excels in and use other financial institutions, too.

Here are six reasons to add a credit union to the mix.

NOT A BANK

Credit unions have the same basic products and services as banks, and its deposits are insured. But you’re not just a customer at a credit union, you’re a member and part owner.

Finding a bank alternative might be important to many. Some 71% of millennials, for example, would rather go to the dentist than listen to what banks have to say, according to the Millennial Disruption Index, a three-year study of 10,000 millennials released several years ago.

If you’re mad at big banks for their role in the Great Recession or any other reason, you have choices, including credit unions, for taking your business — and money — elsewhere.